Recap: NY Yankees vs. Oakland

Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Two solo home runs from Yoenis Cespedes and one from Josh Donaldson helped the Oakland Athletics climb out of an early hole to beat the New York Yankees 7-4 on Wednesday night.

Donaldson had the go-ahead blast in the seventh inning, giving the A's a 5-4 lead after they trailed 4-0.

Jesse Chavez (5-3) pitched six innings and snapped a two-start losing streak, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

"We're not going to give up," said Donaldson. "Eventually we were able to knock their starter out and get to their bullpen. Cespedes hits two homers and I was fortunate to get one. We'll take it."

Six Oakland players knocked in at least one run in the team's fifth straight win, including the first two games of this three-game series.

The A's improved to 18-7 in their last 25 games and have three winning streaks of at least five games in that span.

Jacoby Ellsbury hit a three-run homer in a four-run third inning for New York, which matched a season high with its fourth straight loss.

"We know how this game goes and we have to continue to tack on runs," said Ellsbury. "It seems like we have been close, but that big hit has eluded us the past few games."

Vidal Nuno got the start but didn't factor in the decision after allowing two runs on six hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings.

Cespedes led off the sixth inning with his second homer of the game -- and 12th of the season -- off Matt Daley to draw the A's within 4-3. Matt Thornton replaced Daley with a runner on and gave up a single to Brandon Moss and a walk to Kyle Blanks to load the bases for Alberto Callaspo, whose sacrifice fly tied the score at 4-4.

Donaldson's go-ahead homer off Jose Ramirez (0-1) came with one out in the seventh and was his 16th of the season.

The A's tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning when Wade LeBlanc hit Brandon Moss with a bases-loaded pitch and Blanks added a sacrifice fly.

Sean Doolittle threw a 1-2-3 ninth for the A's to notch his seventh save.

Earlier, Derek Jeter knocked in New York's first run with a single in the fourth and Ellsbury followed with his third homer of the season to make it 4-0, but the A's chipped away.

Cespedes led off the fourth inning with his first home run of the game to get the A's on the board and Jed Lowrie knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth, knocking Nuno from the game.

Game Notes

Baseball icon Don Zimmer, a former player and longtime manager, coach and
advisor who won four World Series rings as a coach with the Yankees, died on
Wednesday at the age of 83.